On the subject of diamonds…

I’ve written about the diamond trade before, but I’m rehashing it because of a story I just read in National Geographic. In it a diamond guy says 99.8 percent of diamonds are conflict-free. I’m not so sure I believe this. Maybe only .2 percent of diamonds help pay for wars or conflicts, as is the case in the soon-to-be-released “Blood Diamond,” but the diamond trade is far from humanitarian. Part of the problem people have with the diamond industry is the way it treats people working in the mines. That isn’t even mentioned in the National Geographic article.

I think it’s good that the new Leonardo DiCaprio movie is bringing so much attention to this subject. Seriously, if I ever have the chance to go to grad school I want to go to Africa and research/document the diamond mines. It’d probably be dangerous though.

Other news:

I don’t know if you guys have seen the new NYT blog “The Lede: Notes on the News,” but it’s a really good find. It’s a quick and entertaining way to find out what’s going on in the world. Plus, they have links to the actual news stories. I’ve been reading it ever since it was hatched last month. Check it out if you’re interested.